We’re not only obsessed with what we eat. We’re now obsessed with what our pets eat. They make us healthier and happier, so who can blame us for wanting the best?

While the pet food industry has started adding salmon, vegetables and other ingredients humans favor to its products, the store-bought stuff just doesn’t make the cut anymore for some owners. They’re skipping the pet food aisle altogether in favor of cooking up big batches of Fido’s meals.

Veterinarians say these pet food home chefs do it for different reasons.

“For some people, it’s the human-animal bonding. For some it’s the philosophical benefits: they want to keep kosher, or [they’re] vegetarians,” and want to feed their pets the same way, says Sean Delaney, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist who co-authored a textbook on pet nutrition.

Delaney founded BalanceIt, a website with tips on preparing pet food and other finer points of pet nutrition, in 2005. Interest in homemade pet food really took off in 2007 after the melamine pet food scare, he says, and is still growing.

Bob Loper, a former freelance writer who lives in Washington, D.C., says he started cooking food for Toffee, his 10-year old mixed Boykin spaniel, during “a very itchy phase.” The vet told him she was allergic to something in the environment, her food or their home.

After eliminating the possibility of fleas, he decided to try a dog food recipe his wife found online. The recipe was created by Michael Fox, former vice president of the Humane Society of the U.S. and the author of more than 40 books on animal care, behavior and bioethics.

The dish is basically a hamburger and rice casserole, with a few extra nutrients thrown in, like brewer’s yeast for minerals like chromium and selenium.

“I am an advocate of whole, organic foods that are biologically appropriate for the species. Food for Dogs is different from ‘Dog Food’ — it’s human food quality, but with less grains,” Fox writes on his website, where he offers the dog food recipe, plus organic and GMO-free prepared pet food products.

Many people assume that the most “biologically appropriate” food for dogs is meat, but it’s more complicated than that. Domestic dogs evolved from wolves, who are carnivores, but recent research published in the journal Science shows that as domesticated dogs evolved along with people, they became omnivores.

As people began to settle down and farm, dogs came along for the free food. And it was rarely meat — it was scraps of grains and vegetable waste on the dump heaps. Dogs that developed the ability to digest starch had an advantage, researchers say.

Cats are another story – they are dedicated carnivores, as you may have noticed when they show up at the door with half-dead mice and birds as presents.

Yet grains – how much and what kind — have become a controversial issue in recent years in both human and pet diets. These days, most complete and balanced pet-food products contain grains, according to Marion Nestle, who authored a book on pet food in 2010.

But as humans have become increasingly concerned that grain-based carbs are the reason we’re fat, some pet owners worry our dogs and cats who eat commercial pet food might also be gaining too much weight from the grains in it. That’s led many pet owners to look for alternatives.

According to Fox, sales of grain-free pet foods jumped some 28 percent between 2011 and 2012 — to $1.4 billion for dog food, and some $322 million for cat food. Yet it’s a small drop in the food bowl. Pet food is a $21 billion a year market.

Some pet owners are even putting pets on raw food diets, which makes Joni Scheftel, state public health veterinarian at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul, nervous because it may increase human exposure to salmonella and other foodborne illnesses. (More on that tomorrow.)

Cooking your own food for Fido is fine, vet nutritionist Delaney says, as long as you learn the dos and dont’s. First of all, dog food can’t contain ingredients pets can’t tolerate, like garlic and onions, raisins, grapes and kabocha squash, he says. And you need to know the right proportions of protein and essential fatty acids. “You have to do math … to make sure it’s balanced,” he says.

For example, dogs can only handle a certain amount of vitamin D, or they can develop renal and urinary problems from hypercalcimia. There have also been reports of broken bones from inadequately balanced homemade diets, as reported in a review published in the Journal for American Veterinary Medical Association in 2012.

While it’s a lot of work to do it right, many owners who cook for their dogs say the proof is in the poop. Two years after she started on a homemade diet, Toffee’s stopped scratching, her coat is shiny, and she make about 50 percent less poop that has to be scooped, Loper says. And she loves her food.

Loper says the reason more people like him are turning away from commercial dog food is that they are choosing fresher, more natural food ingredients for themselves these days. And they want to do the same for their companion animals.

“If you’re making better food for yourself, and cooking, why not [cook dog food]?” he says. “It’s practically as quick as making pasta.”

]]>http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2014/05/26/why-some-pet-owners-ditch-chow-to-cook-for-fido-from-scratch/feed/0Despite a dizzying array of dog food choices, some owners avoid the cans and bags and making their own from scratch.Despite a dizzying array of dog food choices, some owners avoid the cans and bags and making their own from scratch. Photo: Christopher/FlickrFarm To Fido: Dog Food Goes Localhttp://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2013/07/29/farm-to-fido-dog-food-goes-local/
http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2013/07/29/farm-to-fido-dog-food-goes-local/#commentsMon, 29 Jul 2013 21:57:35 +0000http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/?p=66775

Producers of farm-to-dog-bowl food say the concept is more about locavorism and sustainability than about pampering pooches. Photo: Heather Rousseau/NPR

The email read: “We signed a contract for farm-to-bowl dog food product development today, I kid you not :)”

The note was from a friend, Wendy Stuart, who consults on food access and sustainability issues. Even so, our first reaction was: Really?

It’s easy to dismiss the concept as the culinary equivalent of a diamond dog collar or a Versace pet bowl.

But many producers offering farm-to-fido dog food say it’s a healthful option for pets that also helps farmers and ranchers while cutting down on food waste. It can also help the environment. For instance, the product Wendy is developing is made from wild blue catfish, an invasive species in the Chesapeake Bay.

Two years ago, Jake Dickson made headlines as one of several New York City butchers selling high-end, locally sourced dog food. Dickson’s pet chow is a blend of farmers market veggies and leftover meats that don’t make it into the premium artisanal cuts he sells at his Chelsea Market shop.

Feeding Fido with locally sourced meats and vegetables can get pretty pricey. Dickson’s fancy feast will cost you $10 per quart, about enough to feed a 100-pound dog for a day. That translates to $300 a month, for those of you keeping score. Even so, Dickson says about 100 customers each week pick up the gourmet grub.

It is “quite expensive,” he says, but his goal isn’t to pamper pooches.

“For us, it’s all about 100 percent utilization of the animal,” Dickson tells The Salt. “If we’re going to slaughter it, we want to use every part. And second, if we use every part, we’re more profitable as a company.”

As Dickson notes, picking up scrap meats for your dog at the local butcher is a tradition with a long history. And with the growth of the locavore movement, meat producers from coast to coast say they’re also seeing a boom in demand for local pet food options. Some are even setting up subscription-based “doggie CSAs,” or community-supported agriculture.

Dennis Adams and his wife raise free-range sheep, alpaca and chickens at Cota Farms, about 45 miles outside of Columbus, Ohio. When they process their meat, he says, they always have leftovers — necks and backs of chickens, and sheep hearts. So several years ago, Adams started grinding up this meat and selling it as raw dog food at local farmers markets.

“This is premium, organic meat,” Adams tells The Salt. “Dogs are lucky to get it.”

Word quickly got out and demand grew. Now, he has 50 subscribers for his raw dog food CSA.

In fact, business grew so rapidly that Adams recruited other ranchers and farmers in the region to contribute their leftover meat — “there’s really nothing else you can do with a beef heart,” he says (unless you’re a high-end chef into offal).

Over in San Diego, entrepreneur Tasha Ardalan has also recently gotten into the community-supported dog food business. She gathers the season’s leftover fruits and vegetables from local farmers who would otherwise have to toss them out.

“The farmers love it,” she tells us. A few have even signed up for her dog food.

The produce gets mixed with meat from local ranchers and sold as a raw, organic dog food patty that costs subscribers of her CSA — named Foxy Treats — $4 a pound. “Some customers are a bit skittish about the food being raw,” she says. “So I just tell them to bake it.”

Ardalan says she consulted with local vets before coming up with her recipes. Getting the mixture right is paramount, says Jennifer Larsen, an assistant professor of nutrition at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Larsen says if you’re going to go DIY with your dog food in the name of locavorism, be sure to check in with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist. (This is a vet with a specialty in nutrition, not someone with an Internet diploma.)

It’s easy to make a recipe that lacks essential nutrients for dogs, she warns. She recently published a study of 200 homemade dog food recipes gathered from vet textbooks, dog care books and the Web. Ninety-five percent of these recipes lacked at least one essential nutrient, she found, and more than 80 percent lacked multiple nutrients. Over time, she says, such deficiencies can lead to serious health problems for your barking buddy.

Larsen says many of her clients do source their dog food locally — a perk of living in California’s Central Valley. And some have the luxury of outsourcing the kitchen work involved in cooking for four-legged locavores.

“There are owners that we [design] recipes for,” she says, “and they hire professional chefs to [make] our recipes because they don’t have the time to do it themselves.”

A few weeks ago I was buying a six-pack of Red Bull for my aunt, and since I’m not a huge soda fan, I was taking a minute to peruse the beverage aisle of my local grocery store to see what newcomers have arrived in the world of pop. My former favorites were there, such as Pepsi, Coke, Barq’s, and 7-Up. But the selection of new sodas on the market was staggering.

Did you know that Mountain Dew is now making a breakfast soda? That Pepsi has created “Pepsi Max,” which contains ginseng and even more caffeine that a regular cola? And that there’s a new brand of soda called Pussy Pop?

Wait, what? Yes, you heard me. Pussy Pop.

I stopped to look again, and sure enough, the can said exactly what I thought it did. The name was followed by a catchy subtitle, describing the beverage as “a refreshing delicious drink for your cat.” A quick flip of the can revealed a frightening list of ingredients that includes carbonated water, coconut extract, whey protein, caramel coloring, sugar, and three different kinds of meat-based flavorings.

So, I bought a can. What else was I supposed to do? Then, like a good little blogger, I came home and started to research my bizarre find. Pussy Pop is indeed meant for cats, but I discovered that there is an actual human market for this stuff. Meaning, people drink it.

Again, you heard me. There is a surprisingly large demographic of people who drink this sweetened, carbonated meat broth. And apparently it’s become quite a popular drink to mix with any number of alcoholic beverages.

A little digging revealed that the company that produces Pussy Pop–Pet Pro, Co.–at first manufactured the soda to a few very small distribution centers, but the product took off to the point that Pet Pro couldn’t keep up with demand. They were eventually able to produce enough cat soda to sate a hoard of thirsty customers, and now the craze is spreading across the nation.

I was still aghast that this vile product even existed, but that incredulity was beginning to turn to curiosity. I eyeballed the can on my desk, still cold from the refrigerated aisle at the supermarket. It was a lovely false-spring day here in Oakland; temperatures had hit 70 degrees that afternoon, and a small rivulet of moisture ran down the side of the can, not unlike those images from 80s Coke commercial that showed a sweaty basketball player drinking an ice cold bottle of Gatorade. An impulse came over me. I had to taste it. I mean, how could I not?

I poured a cold glass of Pussy Pop, then set it down on the counter. I stared at the glass for a few minutes before taking a sniff, which revealed an aroma somewhere between Doctor Pepper and chicken soup. A quick sip wasn’t so bad – sweet and weirdly savory – but a full-fledged gulp left me gagging and flailing as I reached for the faucet to get the ghastly flavor of cold, over-sweetened beef udon off my palate. People drink this stuff? Really?

The rest of the soda went down the drain, but I saved the can just for the fun of it. It will be a great conversation piece for parties.

And no, my cat wouldn’t touch it.

Ed note: we do not recommend that you google the name of this soda, especially while at work.

And, with the exception of possible remorse for stealing bits of crunchy pleasure away from my dogs, I am totally unashamed.

Why no shame?

Because they were delicious, that’s why.

And they were handy. The Milk-Bone dog biscuits were the only read-to-eat snack food within my reach when I was too small to reach the higher shelves. They were right there under the sink with the dishwasher detergent, ant poison, and the Drano. Given my choices, I think I made the right decision, snackwise. Don’t you?

Please don’t answer that last question.

I don’t think I ever ate them in front of my mother, since I’m sure she would have disapproved. My father, on the other hand, would have probably been pleased by my eating sugar-free cookies that promised cleaner teeth and fresher breath. He’s a dentist. And he loves dogs.

It would have been win-win with him.

I pretty much abandoned eating my pets’ snack food when I was old enough and tall enough to reach the potato chips and Space Food Sticks. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve eaten a dog cookie. Think Carter administration.

I recently asked all of my Twitter pals if I was the only one out there who ate dog cookies. I quickly found that I wasn’t. One friend even went as far as to say she loved eating tuna-flavored cat food as a child.

Atta girl.

I have no idea why I have a sudden craving for dog biscuits again. Maybe I just miss having dogs around. Maybe my teeth need whitening. Maybe I’m not getting enough fibre. I don’t really care. I just need to exorcise this pet food demon.

Besides, it counts as baking, so that’s good.

Peanut Butter Boners

This recipe is an adaptation of one I found labeled “Peanut Butter Puppy Poppers.” The original recipe is sound, but finding freshly ground puppies in San Francisco on short notice is a real pain in the ass.*

I added a wee bit of sweetness so that these treats can be enjoyed by man as well as man’s best friend.

Just imagine the shared bond of eating the same food at the same time. And with cleaner teeth and fresher breath, when your dog licks you in the face to say “Thank you,” you can lick him right back to say “You’re welcome,” with the confidence that only sparkly teeth and peanut buttery breath can give.

Makes about 36 cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup peanut butter (chunk-style or smooth)

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons honey

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, put peanut butter, milk, and honey. Mix at a very low speed with the paddle attachment. Very low. Otherwise you will have a big, splattering mess on your hands.

4. When the peanut butter mixture is well mixed, gradually add the dry ingredients and paddle until a dough forms and behaves nicely by cleaning up after itself by wiping the sides of the bowl clean with its own mass.

5. Place dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll to ¼-inch thickness.

6. Cut out cookies with a small dog bone-shaped cutter (thanks for the loan, Mark Reilly) and place on a greased (or silpat-covered) cookie sheet and bake for about 25 minutes (or until lightly browned.

7. Remove from oven, cool on rack, make your dog or your boyfriend beg for a treat, serve.

These cookies will keep for several days in an airtight container.

* I hate having to tell people I am joking, but I would rather not be sued.

This is Chipper– a happy little Meyer’s Parrot who loves all the usual parroty things like seeds, grapes, playful biting, and his roommates. He squawks and bobs and has the characteristic tuft of yellow feathers on the top of his head that reminds me of Rip Taylor every time I see him. There’s only one problem– Chipper isn’t a “he” at all.

A little while back, I received a phone call from my friend Lyle:

“Hey, uhhhh… Mike? So… Cybele and I just got back from Mexico and saw that Chipper just laid and egg. Cybele was wondering if you wanted to come over and eat it.”

I was a little stunned. Not so much because of the odd invitation. I was delighted, in fact. It was more at the thought of my refusal to believe that Chipper was not, in fact, male. He’s She’s laid eggs before– four or five over the course of her twenty-one years. I realized that I was clearly struggling with the bird’s gender assignment and was frustrated that, since she is not as verbal as other breeds of parrot, I wouldn’t be able to ask her how she felt about being a male trapped in a female body. Of course, it’s more than likely that Chipper is completely happy in her female state. Thanks to years of therapy, I quickly understood that this was clearly my problem and not hers, so I moved on.

“Sure,” I replied, “Why not?” The egg was collected and refrigerated. Arrangements were made.

When I arrived at Lyle and Cybele’s home, I found still-warm-from-the-oven cornbread on the kitchen counter, along with freshly-made guacamole and salsa, some tortilla chips, and a pot of chili simmering on the stove. Chili. Oh, yes. I had forgotten it was Super Bowl Sunday. While millions of football fans across the country were preparing to eat their own chilis and nachos and what-have-yous, I had the feeling that we were possibly the only people in the country who would be eating parrot’s egg.

“Do you want to see it?” asked Cybele. She placed a small blue ceramic bowl in my hand in which the egg had made its home for the past several days. It was tiny. I’m not sure what else I was expecting to come out of an eight inch tall bird. I wondered what the hell I was going to do with one egg that was smaller than a watch face.

I didn’t have to think long. All the ingredients were right there on the countertop: the guacamole, the tortillas, the salsa. What else could I make but huevos rancheros? Correction: what else could I make but one, little huevito ranchero?

The trick, of course, was not to screw it up. Dropping it or breaking the yolk were out of the question– this egg was too rare a thing to scramble. We discussed the best way to go about cooking the thing, which was to liberally coat one depression of a miniature muffin tin with olive oil spray, place the tin in a shallow amount of water, and heat gently– very gently. I became nervous cracking the egg. It wasn’t so much that Chipper had been let out of her cage to watch the action, but because, if I messed up, I would have to wait patiently for another two years before I’d get another chance to gourmandize the fruit of Chipper’s womb. I gave the the shell a couple of swift taps with the dull end of a small knife. The shell was much softer and less calcified than a chicken’s egg. I carefully peeled away the cracked bits that adhered to the thick inner membrane, making a window large and smooth enough to safely release the yolk and albumen, then let it gently slide into the warm, waiting mini muffin tin.

“Is it done yet?” asked Lyle as he peered over my shoulder. “It doesn’t look done, but it has to be– something that small shouldn’t take so long. Is the heat on?” The heat was on and it didn’t look done at all– the white of the egg was still opaque. I was treating it like a chicken egg. Since I nor anyone in my acquaintance had any prior parrot egg-frying experience, the white of the egg seemed like a sensible gauge.

I touched the thing with the tip of my index finger. It felt done, so I pulled the tin from the heat and let it rest briefly as I prepared the egg’s accessories. We were all pleased. I was surprised by how cute an egg dish could be.

It was, of course, on the small side. I could have fit the whole thing into my mouth at one go. Fortunately, I remembered that I was eating something very special and that the producer of this little pre-chili amuse bouche was perched directly behind me, making a mess of the bit of corn bread Cybele had just given her. I turned around and showed Chipper the plate. She cocked her head a little and then lunged at it. Would it be okay if she ended up eating some of her own egg? I quietly decided to myself that this was one moral question I did not care to find out– I was too hungry and hung over from the night before to deal with such things. I merely thanked Chipper for the food I was about to receive. I felt as though I were saying some sort of Grace before supper, except, this time, I was saying it to an actual, living creature that I could reach out and physically touch, not an invisible deity. I turned my back again, uncertain of what Chipper’s feelings might actually be regarding the matter, and tucked in and thought to myself, “Is this rude? Do farmers ever eat eggs in front of their own chickens? What’s the etiquette here?”

I cut off a small amount of egg white and placed it on my tongue. It tasted oddly citrusy and I said as much. I asked Cybele what Chipper like to eat. “Oh, lots of seeds and grains. Oh, and grapes. Chipper loves grapes,” she replied. The list went, but nowhere was anything in the citrus family mentioned. So the top note was this little birds own, special addition. Lyle and Cybele then each took a little taste. That’s pretty much all one could do with the thing– it was gone after that. One perfect little parrot’s egg gone after three tiny, thoughtful bites. I sat there thinking to myself, “Is that… all there is?” I tried to remain as dead pan as Peggy Lee herself. I didn’t want to offend Chipper.

Overall, I’m glad I got to try the egg. None of the pets I’ve cared for in my lifetime have ever given me anything as useful as something to eat. Sure, the cat had left several snack offerings, but sunbaked lizards and half-chewed finches are too much trouble to cook. And, before anyone utters a “How could you?”, it’s not as if Chipper was going to make use of the thing– it was unfertilized. Perhaps we just spared her effort summoning any sort of maternal instinct the embarrassment of going through the motions of caring for something that would never become anything else if left to its own devices. Maybe it was better that we did let that egg become something else, like food.

Whatever the case may be, thanks Chipper, you’ve given new meaning to the term “pet food.” I do hope we did your little egg justice. Maybe the next time around, we’ll do something even more fun with it, like make a tiny soufflé studded with seeds and grapes in your honor or simply soft-boil it and serve it on miniature toast. We’ve got another two years to come up with a menu plan.

]]>http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2010/02/19/a-chipper-little-sunday-brunch/feed/4chipper happyparrot egghuevito rancheroegg in handHomemade Dog Foodhttp://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2008/12/06/dog-food/
http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2008/12/06/dog-food/#commentsSat, 06 Dec 2008 14:17:46 +0000http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2008/12/06/dog-food/Superfood.
Once upon a time, not very long ago, she ate high-quality kibble. She hated it. Mealtime was spent coaxing, pleading, and trying any means necessary to get her to eat. It was a battle of wills, a struggle of stubbornness, and she usually won. Winning meant a scoop of cottage cheese or a bit of chicken mixed into her kibble. She's really not a stupid dog, and knew if she held out, we'd eventually give in. Even so, she'd still poke around and begrudgingly eat it.
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My dog Luna eats better than I do. It’s not to say that I don’t eat well, but she eats Superfood.

Once upon a time, not very long ago, she ate high-quality kibble. She hated it. Mealtime was spent coaxing, pleading, and trying any means necessary to get her to eat. It was a battle of wills, a struggle of stubbornness, and she usually won. Winning meant a scoop of cottage cheese or a bit of chicken mixed into her kibble. She’s really not a stupid dog, and knew if she held out, we’d eventually give in. Even so, she’d still poke around and begrudgingly eat it.

Then, earlier this year my other dog was diagnosed with cancer. We tried just about everything we could to cure him and make him comfortable and happy. And one of the best things we did was to take him to see a holistic vet, who suggested that we put him on a natural, homemade diet (he had a lot of intestinal issues).

Well, naturally we put both dogs on the diet. They both immediately loved it. It didn’t save his life, but it certainly made him damn happy for the rest of it. And Luna embraced it. Wholeheartedly. She went from a dog that practically refused to eat, to one that asks to be fed. She can’t wait for me to set the bowl on the floor.

It took some time, research, and effort to come up with a recipe that we felt would give her all the nutrients she needs. And we are still experimenting, learning what she can and can’t eat, what she loves, and what she will tolerate or pick through to get to the good stuff.

It’s not for every dog. And it requires getting out the pots and pans twice a week (or less if you make an even bigger batch of food and freeze it). But, she’s healthier (she no longer farts us out of the room) and much much happier for it.

If you do decide to try it, and your dog has been eating commercial kibble for a while, you should ease him or her into it by mixing the kibble into the homemade food. Try to use the best quality ingredients you can find, although I admit, this is not the cheap way to feed your pet. But when my holistic vet pointed out that eating kibble would be like us eating dry saltines for the rest of our lives (albeit very healthy saltines), the inner foodie in me was horrified. Why doesn’t my dog deserve to eat delicious food?

Luna’s Superfood
This makes enough to feed my 70-lb dog for about 4 to 5 days; you’ll have to figure out how much to feed your own dog based upon their weight, age, and activity level

Preparation:
1) Add the oats plus 4 cups water to a large saucepan and set aside to soak for a few hours or up to overnight. Add the kale to the oats and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir often, and cook until the oats and kale are tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl to cool.

2) Meanwhile, in a large stockpot, add the chicken or turkey and enough water to just cover. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer just until the meat is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Using tongs, remove the meat to a cutting board to cool. Leave the water in the stockpot.

3) Add the chopped yams to the water in the stockpot, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and add to the mixing bowl with the oats.

4) When the chicken is cool enough to handle, chop it very finely and add it to the oat and yam mixture. Add the olive oil and stir everything together thoroughly. Let cool then store in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you want to store the food longer, freeze it for up to 1 month. Make sure to thaw it completely in the refrigerator before serving it up to your pooch.

Note: If you don’t have the time to make food yourself, Jeffrey’s Natural Pet Food in San Francisco makes delicious all-natural food. They also have a great feeding guidelines chart to help you figure out how much to feed your dog based on weight.

In order to make sure Luna gets all her nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, I often make this healthy powder, which you can find in Dr. Pitcairn’s book, an excellent resource for feeding your pet naturally.